I don't have any great pictures because it was a tiny deer and not very picture worthy haha- but it was my first ever!
Spotted on a lease road while out for chicken hunting. It saw us coming and took off about 30 yards into the trees, and then decided it didn't care that we were there. I almost had a good broad side shot, but it turned away from me and started rummaging in a tree branch. I took the best shot available to me, and landed it perfectly- into the back of the neck a little below the head, and out the windpipe. The deer dropped literally where it stood, and was likely lights out before it hit the snow.
I took it to a friend's place so he could help teach me how to gut and skin it properly, and by 9pm that night it was butchered, vacuum sealed, and in my fridge.
To say the experience was exhilarating would be an understatement. The adrenaline dump just before breaking that shot was indescribable, and the gratitude I felt while looking down at my kill was incredibly humbling. I've hunted small game quite a bit these last few years, but this was my first "actual" kill, and the relationship I now have with the food in my freezer isn't something you can get any other way. I'm hooked, and will work hard to fill my tags next year!
